Blood Draw

[rbbrigman]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get paid for an MA drawing blood? We send off the sample, but she draws and prepares it.
Thank you.
Robin

[Dodie Anderson]

Thw code 36415 does not state Physician's skill. Have you tried that code for payment?

[alincoln]

In follow up to this - what is recommened for the documentation of the MA blood draw? We've had some deny and the payer is requesting documentation. Our MA wasn't documenting anything, so those have been written off. But in the future I'd like to have them start documenting these blood draws, but what are others doing for documentation?

[ajs]

Originally Posted by alincoln

In follow up to this - what is recommened for the documentation of the MA blood draw? We've had some deny and the payer is requesting documentation. Our MA wasn't documenting anything, so those have been written off. But in the future I'd like to have them start documenting these blood draws, but what are others doing for documentation?

Same as an injection...and every service provided should always be documented. What if the patient had a cellulitis develop after the blood draw? You need to have documentation of what was done and who did it.

[heatherwinters]

Patient should be placed on the schedule and a progress note in the EMR should be documented by the medical staff that drew the blood. Minimum documentation should include a reference to the original order, the site of the blood draw and how the patient tolerated the procedure. ICD-9 code is based on the diagnoses used by the clinician on the original order and the procedure code is going to be based on the type of collection but for a routine venipuncture you are looking at probably 36415. Some insurances will also let you charge a 99000 for the handling and transfer of the specimen.

[dflieger]

I agree it is 36415 and the MA should document Date, time, anatomical site, what the draw was for (which labs) and signature.

Ex
4/6/12 VP L arm for cbc, cmp, tsh____________S. Smith, RMA